Thiago Alves: With 'cold assassin mindset,' I can still hang with 170-pound elite

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Back in the win column as of Saturday’s UFC 210 event, former title challenger Thiago Alves is ready to reclaim his spot at the top of the welterweight division.

After outworking Patrick Cote (23-11 MMA, 10-11 UFC) in route to a clean sweep on the judges’ scorecards, Alves (22-11 MMA, 14-8 UFC) still believes he can “do a lot better” than what he showed. But, optimistic about his future, he thinks the key to his continued improvement lies in staying active from now on.

With that in mind, Alves has his sights set on UFC on FOX 25, set to take place in Long Island, N.Y., on July 22. And while he’ll take on whomever, he wouldn’t mind getting a ranked dance partner for that.

“I’ve been at the top of the weight class for years now,” Alves said after his pay-per-view main-card scrap at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, N.Y . “I got myself out of the rankings twice, once by inactivity – I’ve had four surgeries in two years – and the second by trying to drop to lightweight. I’m back. I know I belong to the top, so it’s just a matter of me getting active again. I’m active, and I think it will be nice to get a top 10.

“I know if I’m healthy, I’m able to fight hard. I have the technique and the will and the power to compete at the top of this weight class. So I feel pretty good.”

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Alves’ aforementioned lightweight drop may have been unsuccessful – and rather unpleasant – but he doesn’t regret it. While he missed weight badly and came out on the losing end of the UFC 205 appointment with Jim Miller, he said it was a learning experience that helped him get rid of “10 or 12 pounds” that made life as a welterweight “enjoyable” again.

“I love what I do,” Alves said. “I think I’m blessed. I’ve been in the UFC for 12 years. I don’t know how many people are able to stay at the highest level for this long. I feel now, at 33, I still got a long time to go. And I’m finally enjoying it again and having fun and going to the gym two, three times a day just to hang out and learn, and be better. I think it was a good thing that (Miller fight) didn’t go my way.”

Asked whether he sees himself up there in the division’s higher echelon, with the likes of champ Tyron Woodley and two-time title challenger Stephen Thompson, Alves didn’t hesitate.

“Absolutely,” Alves said. “It’s just a matter of me getting back to being active again. I have all the technique and talent in the world. I train with the best team in the world, with a lot of great teammates as well.

“Anything is possible in this business. You’re fighting with the four-ounce gloves. One punch, one kick can change the course of the fight. I’m excited. I’m excited to test myself again.”

With 22 UFC fights to his name, including a failed title bid against then-champ Georges St-Pierre in 2009, Alves has certainly had his share of octagon action. But while there must have been some tougher setbacks to swallow in the mix, “Pitbull” said there’s no specific competition he wishes to re-encounter right now.

After all, life got a lot better for Alves once he started keeping personal feelings out of the octagon equation.

“I don’t fight faces,” Alves said. “I look at the body and see how they move and try to counter that, and try to find the weakness and attack that. That’s how I approach it. I don’t have much emotion toward the business anymore, because my heart got broken so many times. So I kind of have this cold assassin mindset toward it.”